1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method of and an apparatus for automatically threading a pair of separable slide fastener stringers having pins secured to their ends, respectively, through a slider to thereby couple the slide fastener stringers into a slide fastener chain and mount the slider thereon.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Various processes have been practiced in the art for fabricating separable slide fasteners. According to one known method, auxiliary tapes are attached respectively across lower ends of separate elongate slide fastener stringers having top stops on upper ends thereof, the stringers are cut off across the tapes into desired unit stringers which are then threaded through a slider, pins are fixed to the lower ends of the stringer lengths, respectively, followed by attachment of a box to one of the pins, and finally the unit stringers are brought into mutual intermeshing engagement. Another prior process comprises the steps of attaching pins to lower ends of separate elongate slide fastener stringers with top stops mounted on their upper ends, threading one of the stringers through a slider, attaching a box to the pin of the stringer with the slider mounted thereon, and cutting off the stringers into unit stringers which are then combined into a final slide fastener product. These conventional processes however include the manual step of bringing the unit stringers into interdigitating engagement, a step which has been a serious obstacle to efforts to achieve an increased rate of production of slide fasteners.
A method of manufacturing separable slide fasteners is disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 53-69746, assigned to the present assignee. The disclosed method is capable of fabricating separable slide fasteners highly efficiently as the entire process is automated. However, a problem is still to be solved in threading separate stringers with pins attached through a slider unobstructedly and reliably and taking the stringers into proper meshing engagement.